feminism

• Chivalry thesis


  Based on the idea that men protect and look after women in our culture, treating women with courtesy and respect
• The chivalry thesis says women are treated differently/ leniently in the CJS, police are less likely to charge women and courts give lighter sentences even for committing the same offence
• The difference between treatment of gender is because of the nature of crimes committed and not because of the bias within the CJS
• The argument centres on whether or not women commit equal amounts of crime as men; but do not get punished for it if caught
• Evidence for chivalry thesis

  • Allen (1989) women given more lenient so sentences when convicted of motoring offences
  • Farrington and Morris (1983) looked at magistrates courts, found men were more likely to be given prison sentences, however evidence suggested males had committed more serious crimes
• The chivalry thesis suggests that difference between genders are ignored when it comes to the severity of the crime and take into account the criminal record of those involved
• Revived studies from UK and USA


  • Found women likely to be treated kindly
• Feminists state the chivalry thesis is evidence of malestream thinking as different conviction ratings are based on terms of biology
• Double Deviance


  Arguments states that women are treated more harshly by the CJS as they are double deviant (deviated from the norms by breaking the law and deviated from gender norms of how women should behave)
• Double Deviance contradicts the chivalry theory
• Double Deviance explains why female criminals are often demonised more than males who have committed similar actions
• Those who are seen as bad mothers are treated more harshly in the CJS
• Women considered to be good mothers are unlikely to be imprisoned and those who are not considered to be good or who's children are in care would receive harsher sentences including imprisonment
• Example of double deviance


  • Partner murder in domestic abuse, cases like this women would be imprisoned for longer periods of time. Men would be allowed to argue in court that they were provoked to violence
• Feminism offers a direct challenge to the chivalry thesis by pointing out that many women are in fact victims of society and the CJS
• Freda Alder: 'There has been an upsurge in female crime and described it as dramatic - however numbers of those actually involved were small compared to male crime convictions.'
• Feminists have drawn attention to the fact that male behaviour is problematic for society because men are disproportionately involved in criminal and violent activity.
• As women expected equal opportunities with men in the workplace

  Female criminals were demanding equal opportunities with males to commit white collar crime.
• There appears to have more females in m/c crime, but could be a result of changing female attitudes is argued - women did not have had the opportunities for m/c professional crime
• Denscombe and ladette culture 2001: 'Reported increase in risk behaviours among young women, adopted many behaviours and sexual attitudes of young men (drinking and subsequent violence which lead to a rise in arrests)'
• Young women were adopting aggressively masculine behaviours as a reaction to traditional gender stereotyping and social control this was named ladette culture
• Slack (2009) reported a 50% rise in crime over the last 4 years committed by under 18 girls.
• Outdated as women have equality in the workplace now
• Domestic control


  Women are controlled in their own homes because they have less freedom, time is spent doing housework and often denied opportunities to be out at night
• Control in public spaces

  • Women are constrained by their fear of sexual violence
  • Women are constrained if not being seen as respectable
• Control in public spaces

  • Men may intimidate women in public spaces
  • Men may be abusive if women enter traditionally male environments like pubs
• Employment control


  • Women are less likely to be in high positions
  • Women's work is overseen more
  • Women have less opportunity for white-collar crime e.g. fraud
• Heidensohn's argument


  Women commit fewer crimes than males due to patriarchal control - Fewer opportunities and incentives in life
• Women feel they have been treated harshly by the criminal justice system as they see it as a male dominated institution and feel treatments has been unsympathetic and unjust according to Heidensohn
• Heidensohn's theory was praised for being an early attempt to explain the gender differences within crime, and at the time it was proposed it was the most valid it could have been
• Heidensohn's theory has been criticised by feminists for failing to consider the power men have over women as a whole
• Heidensohn's theory is considered a postmodernist explanation that is outdated for the 21st century